Strawberry Syrup
by thekatthatbarks
Summary: Before Sakura could reply, he continued closing his eyes, "You looked beautiful. You had this red –" Sakura's hand shot across the table and covered his mouth, a dozen shades of red, "Kakashi! We are in public." Kakashi was chuckling behind her hand and when she pulled away he finished, "Santa suit on." Prompt from fineillsignup on Tumblr.


Sakura was in love. She was over the moon, head over heels, flat out _in love_. He was amazing and everything Sakura could ever hope for in a boyfriend. He was a little older than her, okay, _a lot_ older, fourteen years. But she didn't care, she was twenty-four herself and could make her own decisions like she had told her parents and anyone else who talked about the age gap. Kakashi was wonderful, he was sweet and goofy and it was like the age difference wasn't even there.

She walked down the street with a big smile on her face, on the way to meet Kakashi at their favorite coffee shop. The street was busy, people moving almost in crowds and bells chiming from all of the shops. She glanced to her left to see a charming bookstore. She checked her watch and she had enough time to look around. She stepped towards the door and stopped in her tracks when she saw a sign, " _No werewolves._ "

Sakura frowned, narrowing her eyes and turned back to her walk. It was the twenty-first century, but her city still had a divide. _Werewolves versus vampires_. While the two species didn't go to wars anymore, there was still a great discrimination, a _hate_. People who weren't either, just humans, could go anywhere they wanted to and were unaffected by the whole thing. Whereas, vampires and werewolves had to check for signs before they even entered a building. _It was the owner's right to ban whoever he/she wanted to from his/her establishment._ The law said and anyone who chose to ignore the signs, could not be helped by the law if a confrontation were to break out. And any murder would be considered _self-defense_.

Sakura personally thought the whole thing was bullshit. She always compared it to the humans' racism in the 1950's between whites and blacks. There was still racism today, but it was frowned upon and against the law. Why couldn't the other species learn from them?

Sakura was still annoyed when she finally reached her destination. This coffee shop had _no_ signs, which was why her and Kakashi liked it. He had the same opinions as her about the species debacle, which she had been pleasantly surprised about. Most people didn't agree with her, too stuck in their old habits and what _ancestors_ had believed and yada yada.

She spotted him in the corner and instantly felt better when he smiled at her, waving her over. Sakura grinned and hurried over to him. She gave him a sweet kiss on the lips and sat across from him.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "You're _late_."

Sakura shook her head, "I'm not late, you're just _early_." She leaned across the table and put a hand to his forehead, "Are you feeling sick?"

"Haha, very funny," he rolled his eyes and pushed her hand gently away, "I can show up early to things sometimes."

Sakura cocked an eyebrow at him and took a drink of the coffee he had ordered for her, "Kashi, you barely made it to our first date on time."

Kakashi smiled at her and shrugged, "Maybe I was just excited to see you this morning."

Sakura blushed, "And why's that?"

"I had a dream about you last night," Kakashi winked at her, his smile widening when Sakura's blush deepened.

Before Sakura could reply, he continued closing his eyes, "You looked beautiful. You had this red –"

Sakura's hand shot across the table and covered his mouth, a dozen shades of red, "Kakashi! We are in _public_."

Kakashi was chuckling behind her hand and when she pulled away he finished, "Santa suit on."

Sakura stared at him in disbelief and Kakashi's chuckles turned into barely contained laughter. Sakura couldn't help but laugh with him and looked away from him, "You're an idiot."

"You just look so beautiful when you blush. Your face turns this endearing shade of red," Kakashi told her, grabbing her hand across the table.

She rolled her eyes, but smiled at him, " _Dork_."

Kakashi smiled back at her and started telling her a funny story that had happened at school. Kakashi was a teacher at the high school and Sakura could tell he loved his students just by the way he talked about them. As they talked, she couldn't help but notice all of the stares they got. But she was starting to get used to it at this point. Kakashi was incredibly attractive and always got more than a few looks. His smile could make women and men alike melt into puddles across the café. He had an eyepatch over his left eye, but it just added to the mysterious look about him. His hair was a shocking silver when he was only thirty-eight. He was gorgeous and Sakura was lucky to have him all to herself.

Kakashi walked her to the hospital where she worked and promised to call her when she got out. She kissed him goodbye, already missing him as she pulled away and walked into the hospital.

It was at Kakashi's apartment that she found out and really she was surprised she hadn't figured it out herself. She had woken up before him for the first time and snuck into his kitchen to make them breakfast. But when she opened the refrigerator, she stopped in her tracks. There lined up neatly on the top shelf were fresh bags of blood.

Sakura automatically stepped away from the fridge, her eyes going wide. The soft click of the door shutting sounded unusually loud in the small kitchen. Sakura took a deep breath and opened the door back open with a shaky hand. She pointedly ignored the bags and grabbed stuff to make Kakashi pancakes with.

She tried to forget about the whole thing, but as she cooked her mind kept going back to fridge. _He wouldn't care, would he?_ Kakashi wasn't like _him_ , he wouldn't care. _Right?_ He wouldn't throw away what they had over this stupid species rivalry like _he_ had. He loved her, didn't he?

Sakura put the pancakes on plates and searched through Kakashi's cabinets for his favorite strawberry syrup. She snorted as she grabbed it. Kakashi really had been so obvious, it was ridiculous she hadn't figured it out. Kakashi walked in then to see her smiling at a red bottle of syrup.

He was smiling at her, but then his smile dropped when he saw the breakfast on the table. He went straight for the fridge and opened it. He went still and it felt like it took forever for him to turn back to her. And when he did, he almost looked _scared_. Sakura wanted to reach out for him, but she was feeling scared herself.

"Sakura, I-I," he stuttered, running his fingers through his hair nervously, "I was going to tell you, but…"

Sakura looked down at her feet, the strawberry syrup in her hand feeling suddenly heavy, "You know, don't you?"

She didn't look up at his face, but could see his pale feet move across the floor to stand in front of her. He answered her, his voice breathless, "I do."

Sakura felt her heart stop and she closed her eyes as she asked in a scared voice, "Do you…care?"

Kakashi gently took the bottle of syrup out of her hand and placed it on the counter. He grabbed her hand in his and his other came up to her face, coaxing her to look up at him with a single finger. She met his eye and was surprised to see the sadness there. He looked at her brokenly, "No, Sakura…do you?"

Sakura wrapped her arms around him, holding him closely, " _Never_."

Kakashi sighed in relief and hugged her back, kissing the top of her head. She breathed against him and told him, "I had an ex-boyfriend who _did_ care, when he found out…"

She could feel Kakashi shake his head and he pulled away from her. He smiled at her warmly and leaned down to kiss her. He spoke against her lips, "I love you no matter what."

Sakura kissed him back with a smile, "Me, too."

They had breakfast and Sakura felt lighter as she sat there across from him. She wondered if he felt it too. By the way he kept smiling at her and kissing her with syrupy lips, she knew he did.

They were washing the dishes afterwards when he told her with a happy sigh, "Now, I can make all the jokes I want about you going crazy once a month."

Sakura glared at him and splashed him with water. She giggled as he dramatically wiped the water off of his face with a flick of his wrist. She bumped him with her shoulder, "You're on, _Count Hatake_.


End file.
